Dusk [Death of Day]

Dusk

"Yes. I will marry you. It is an honour to unite our kingdoms." Seth's smirk changed slightly, instead of knowing and sly, it became wider, triumphant. Kali's insides twisted at the sight of his face. She clenched her teeth. For Colby. I do what's right for my kingdom. The twisting sensation turned to a cold stabbing sensation as she heard a cracked noise from the floor. "Ka...li... No..." Alesea's head was raised, and her eyes were wide with a painful mixture of betrayal and disbelief. Tears were sliding down her face, cutting tracks in the dried blood that coated her visage. The Queen found herself trapped by the girl's gaze, unable to look away from the betrayed face, so when the girl sprawled forward, hit hard from behind, it shocked Kali. Above the now still body of Alesea stood a fierce-looking man, one of the guards that had brought the girl in. He bowed curtly, and Kali was forced to look back up at Seth. "Wonderful! Of course, we should be married here, as soon as possible! You may wish to attend to this matter first, though." He gestured to Alesea. The Queen nodded, and Seth continued "I will await your return with great excitement." He got up from his throne, and walked slowly, calmly, towards Kali. His face was unreadable, yet Kali felt a sense of threat, her heart beat faster as he approached. He took her hand, and Kali tried not to flinch as he bowed to kiss it. "May I escort you to your carriage, my Lady?" Forcing a smile onto her face, Kali allowed herself to be led from the hall, turning her back to the broken, still, form of Alesea.

As the pair came in sight of Kali's carriage, a second vehicle pulled up behind it. It was a trap, with a small wooden cage attached to the back of it, the kind used to take condemned prisoners to the gallows. Kali looked away from it, and continued to walk, upright and proud, towards her carriage. A frost seemed to have returned to her heart. Her feelings were irrelevant, she was just one person, and hundreds would be affected by her decisions. Marrying Seth was not romantic. Perhaps it wouldn't make her happy, but happiness is an illusion, it disappears in the blink of an eye and leaves only a pain that is worse than if you had not ever been happy. She didn't even look when a guard threw the figure of her prisoner into the cage, instead, keeping her eyes fixed dead ahead, as sturdy as a diamond, and as unfeeling. Her footman helped her into the carriage, and the King bowed to her. "Until we meet again." He smiled charmingly, he seemed to be in the best of moods, knowing that he had gained everything he wanted. Kali was sure she would've been disgusted by his inappropriate high spirits, but she felt nothing, and instead nodded to her fiancée, before closing her carriage door, in a vain attempt to shut out Awendela.

Alesea awoke, bumping along a muddy forest track, trapped inside a wooden cage. As soon as she opened her eyes, the stiffness of her body instantly reminded her what was happening. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, leaning against the wooden bars that enclosed her, and trying to feel at least a little in control of her situation. From the moment she had been caught in her father's chambers, she had known that her life would end soon. When held in the dungeons of Awendela, she had come to terms with it, after all, dying was a part of life, and as long as Kali thought her a murderer, there was not a soul to grieve. But what she had not imagined was that Kali would marry Seth. After everything he had done, all the pain her half-brother had caused her, even before she had ever met Kali, Alesea knew what he was capable of. Kali would have to spend her life with him, Kali, who had already suffered too much, Seth would hurt her, and there was absolutely nothing Alesea could do to prevent it. That thought chilled her to the bone. While this horror ate into her, the carriage trundled on, following the path of the weak sun across the watery sky, until, as the sky darkened in the dusk, the strange procession came in sight of Colby castle. The surrounding towns had seemed strangely empty, and for some reason, this made Alesea very nervous, but the reason didn't become apparent until they drew closer to the castle gates. A huge crowd had congregated outside them, shouting. The noise increased as the most astute of the crowd spotted the carriages, and cries of "It's the Queen!" and "She's got the traitor!" rang out. Torches illuminated snarling, angry faces, and all sorts of makeshift weapons, fish knives, pokers, rakes, and pickaxes were a few that Alesea could see. As they drew up the crowd, the people made way for the queen, but began pressing close to Alesea's cage. Grasping hands began to reach though the bars, and someone grabbed a fistful of Alesea's hair. Gasping with pain, she wrenched herself away from the edges of the cage, huddling into small ball in the centre of the floor, just out of reach of the hands, some empty, clawing at the air, inches from her skin, some holding weapons, a sharp knife that cut into her arm, or splintered plank that she had to pull out of her leg. The noise was deafening. No individual shouts could be determined, only a roar of sound, animalistic, painful as a knife on her ears, which she could not cover, as she fought away the hands or weapons that found her flesh. It seemed to drag on for eternity, as if she were already dead, a damned soul, spending forever in the fields of punishment, her torture: being torn slowly apart.